


I'll Follow You Into the Dark

by Anonymous



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Klaus Hargreeves Needs A Hug, M/M, Reginald Hargreeves' A+ Parenting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-30
Updated: 2019-05-30
Packaged: 2020-03-29 16:02:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,177
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19023256
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: It all started when they were fifteen years old.Maybe it started earlier, but Diego first noticed it when he was fifteen, his mind finally catching up to what he assumed had really been happening for months - maybe years now.(or the alternative summary)“Jesus! Trigger happy much?”“It’s kind of hard not to be! All things considered!”“Why did you sneak up and not just- I dunno, say hi? Can you not use your words?”“Fuck off Klaus.”“Don’t let dad hear you using those profane words in his sacred academy.”





	I'll Follow You Into the Dark

It all started when they were fifteen years old. 

Maybe it started earlier, but Diego first noticed it when he was fifteen, his mind finally catching up to what he assumed had really been happening for months - maybe years now.

It wasn’t unlike Sir Reginald to have drills or fake emergency scenarios happen in the middle of the night. He claimed it was to keep the children prepared for any form of attack at any time, but Diego was half convinced the old man just did it to torture them. 

Torture or not, it would be an understatement to say Diego had been pissed when the blaring alarm and flashing yellow lights began going off at exactly 2:17 in the morning. He was sure dear old dad was tucked away happily in his soundproof room, far away from the nonsense he made his “children” endure during their nights. Diego was half tempted to see if he could chuck his knife up one of the heat vents in the hope that it’d somehow find its way into the old mans room and (fingers crossed) his eye. But he wasn’t sure his powers worked to that extent. 

Pushing thoughts of murdering his father aside, Diego stood and pulled on a pair of sweatpants and a hoodie he’d grabbed from his floor. He left the hoodie unzipped  _ just _ in the hopes that if Reginald happened to watch the security footage, he would get to see just how disrespectful his son was by daring to appear as less than his best. 

He was quite proud of his little slight against his father's draconian rules, so proud that he didn’t notice at first when his bedroom door opened. 

The second he did happen to notice it, he grabbed a knife from his bedside table, prepared to throw it until he heard a very soft voice whispering “Diego,” to him from the darkness. 

“Klaus?” He shoved the knife into his pocket and walked over to his brother, forgetting for a moment that there was in fact a drill happening in the house, he just needed to get to Klaus and make sure he was okay. He needed to stop whatever had made his brothers voice so watery. Needed to put a stop to what was scaring him. 

It hit him all at once then when he felt Klaus reach out and grip his hand as tightly as he could. It was set up that once the alarm and lights went off for a full minute, everything in the house turned off. Even the lights. 

It was completely dark in the house. Dark as a crypt.

“Diego, I-”

Diego didn’t hesitate to pull Klaus closer to him, lacing their fingers together and desperately trying to get his eyes to adapt to the darkness so he could see Klaus. “It’s alright. It’s just another one of dad’s stupid drills. We just have to get to the stop point and it’ll be over, then we can go back to bed. Then you’ll be okay.” He left out the fact that finding the stop point would most likely be difficult, as it was always difficult, just like everything in the goddamn house was. 

He tugged lightly on Klaus's hand, encouraging the other teen to follow him out into the somehow even darker hallway. The fact that Klaus had somehow been able to silently make his way to Diegos room both shocked and impressed him. Diego turned and squeezed his hand twice, a silent promise that he was going to keep Klaus safe.

The two quietly made their way down the halls, Diego feeling along the walls with his free hand to keep track of where they were going in the house. He silently hoped that they would find the stupid stop point quickly so this could be over. But again, nothing in the stupid house was easy. Mostly just terrible and difficult. 

A sound coming from down the hall caused him to turn and yank Klaus into one of moms linen closets, pressing the both of them into the far back corner, away from where any sliver of light could catch their shadows under the door.

He really wouldn’t put it past Reginald to, he didn’t know, fuckin’ release a pack of wild dogs or some shit into the house. He’d do it without hesitation, and then spend the next morning spouting nonsense while poor mom was left to bandage the children and clean up after the mess said wild dogs made of her usually neat and tidy house. 

God Reginald really sucked.

Once he was sure whatever made the sound was gone, he led Klaus back out the door and down the hall again, trying with renewed vigor to get this all over with. 

“Diego.” He turned back to Klaus, just barely seeing the boys outline and the shine of his eyes as he used their linked hands to point down the stairs. “There’s a light on.”

With a grin, Diego led them to the stairs, seeing that there was in fact a light on. Probably not the stop point, but maybe somewhere where they could clear their heads for a moment before continuing through their goddamn maze of a house. He smiled and squeezed Klaus's hand again. Clever Klaus. Diego never would have noticed it himself, not even thinking to look downstairs yet. 

With light footsteps, they walked down the stairs and towards the open door. Diego winced at the light and shielded his eyes for a moment, nearly relaxing until he heard the door shut behind them.

Without hesitating, he grabbed the knife from his pocket and threw it at whoever had followed them into the room. His heart pounding loudly when he heard the solid ‘thunk’ of the knife embedding itself into the door, followed by a flash a blue.

“Jesus! Trigger happy much?” Five snapped, shoving at Diego's chest before jumping back over to the door and prying the knife from the wood.

“It’s kind of hard not to be! All things considered!” He snatched the knife from his brothers hand and pointed it accusingly at him. 

“Why did you sneak up and not just- I dunno, say hi?” Klaus spoke up from where he was still standing in the corner. “Can you not use your words?”

“Fuck off Klaus.”

“Don’t let dad hear you using those profane words in his sacred academy.” 

Diego was glad to see Klaus acting a bit more normal. A little subdued yes, but better than he’d been during the past half hour or so. 

“That’s not our main level of concern right now, now is it?” 

“Okay Five, cool it, we actually have a goal to achieve here.” Diego scanned the room for a flashlight or candle or something that would keep them out of the pitch black darkness that filled the halls. 

A sharp whistle caught his attention and he turned to see a flashlight flying towards him. After he caught it he turned to glare at Five again. “Could you be a decent person? For one second?”

With a shake of his head, Five clicked on his own flashlight “No.”

The three boys walked down the hall connected to the room they had found themselves in, constantly scanning and keeping a lookout for any threats. They moved in a singular line, Diego leading while Five begrudgingly held up the end, keeping Klaus protected on both sides. Five was probably silently fuming, as Diego had rather quickly shoved him away from the middle when Klaus wasn’t paying attention. He needed to keep him from having to keep lookout from the back, he would hate having to stare into the darkness like that. 

“Every goddamn month,” Five muttered to himself as he checked each room they came across, keeping up a defensive posture even when no threat seemed imminent. “Every goddamn month he does this. He calls this a worthy use of our time, but never spares a second glance at any of my equations.”

“Five, we all share the sentiment, but now is not the time.” Klaus snapped. Diego noticed that the other boy had started to gain back most of his usual snark now that he wasn’t enveloped by darkness anymore. “I dunno about you, but I wanna get the hell out of here and back to bed for at least three sweet more hours.” He continued to walk down the hall, the flashlight clutched tightly in his hand as he slinked down the hall similar to how a cat would move. 

Reginald could try all he wanted to get Number Four to move like One and Two, but he would never possess the same brutal strength as them. He moved in a way that fascinated Diego, and he wished that his brother would be given the chance to train in a way that matched his skills. He couldn’t even imagine how powerful the boy would be if his current strengths were encouraged and trained upon. 

He’d be the deadliest out of all of them.

Five stood up straighter and crept closer to another door further down the hall. Diego opened his mouth to ask what he was doing, but he was cut off by his brother flinging open the door, and a huge blast of something shooting past them. 

Diego didn’t need to think before he reached out for Klaus and yanked him backwards, the boys back colliding with his chest as Diego pressed them up against the wall beside the door, away from whatever had shot out from it. He kept one arm wrapped around his chest and the other around his waist, both of them breathing heavily as they looked around for Five. Klaus gently gripping onto Diego's arm with both hands allowed him to momentarily calm down. Klaus was okay and hadn’t been blasted by whatever nightmare invention his dad had added to the academy. 

His only goal was to keep Klaus safe and unharmed, and Five was making that really fucking difficult to achieve.

A cough coming from the other side of the door got their attention. Slowly untangling from each other, they poked their heads around the door frame to see a slightly smoky Five standing in the doorway. 

Diego didn’t hesitate to chuck his flashlight at the boy.

“A little warning would have been nice!” Klaus shrieked, his hand still fisted tightly in the back on Diego's jacket. “Or you could have said ‘hey, do you think it would be a good idea to open this door?’ because I think we would have no!”

“Calm down Klaus, you should be thanking me.” 

“Why!” He turned his head and realized that they had found themselves at the stop point. Somehow. “Oh.”

“Does this mean we can leave now?” Five looked around the room, raising an eyebrow at Pogo, who was sitting calmly on a seat in the corner. The chimp nodded and gently gestured for the boys to head back to their rooms, offering no explanation as to what had shot them, and no explanation as to why the drill even happened in the first place. “Alright, cool. Tell dad that this is stupid.” He threw his flashlight to the ground and turned on his heel, disappearing in a flash of blue. 

Diego and Klaus both sighed, also turning and leaving the room after bidding Pogo goodnight. Five was right, it was stupid. 

Diego walked him to his room, even though Klaus tried to argue that he was fully capable of walking down the long hallway to his bedroom by himself. Diego knew he was, but he still felt better knowing that he could keep Klaus safe that littlest bit longer until they had to part until morning. “Thanks for- you know.” Klaus leaned against his door frame and did his absolute best to avoid meeting Diego's eyes. “Probably would have fallen down the stairs without you.” 

“Of course.” Diego smiled softly and without thinking, rested his hand gently on Klaus's cheek, prompting him to look up at him. “Of course Klaus. You need anything, I’m here.” Before he could think himself out of it, he leaned over and pressed a quick kiss to Klaus's forehead, turning and walking to his room before he could see the other boys reaction. 

Laying down on his bed, it hit him like a goddamn bullet.

How long had he known?

How long had it even been a thing?

What were his limits when it came to the boy?

Did he even have any?

Why did he even care so much?

He rolled over in his bed and stared at the wall, and all the answers hit him, hitting him even harder than the first realization had.

He must have known for awhile, just never fully let it process. 

It had probably been a thing since they were children. It was him, I was always going to be him.

No. He had no limits when it came to Klaus.

He would do anything for him.

He loved him more than anything.

**Author's Note:**

> hope y'all enjoyed lol  
> comments give me a will to live and i'll love you forever  
> thoughts and suggestions are super appreciated  
> thanks
> 
> also in case you were wondering, i just decided that ben and allison and luther just completed the stupid exercise after the others, so just assume that they were wandering the hall academy on their own while this was happening.   
> also assume that since vanya is "powerless" she was excluded from this exercise. since reggie is a massive dick


End file.
